Water

[ErinCahir]

Do not use distilled water for your fish tank. Large distillers do use copper pipes to distill. Spring water, is distilled water and then they add minerals from the mineral loss of the distilling process. Just go to you lfs to get your rodi water. I live in a town that has ro water and my tbs is 128 from the faucet. I use the rodi to bring it to 0. It is worth every dollar to go get the system. It will cost you now and later

I've used nothing but distilled water from the grocery store in my tiny tank. I've never had an issue with copper.

 

[RollTide15]

I buy water from Walmart. It's labeled "Drinking Water" but it says on the label its processed using Reverse Osmosis. It's the one with the green cap. It's $.84 per gallon.
Works great for me. They also sell distilled, though.

I think the rest of you are spouting off stuff when you are not informed. Every LFS and website has always said not to use Distilled Water as it lacks any trace elements and is too pure. cvcdrk is the only one here who seems to be giving correct information. As he said you want the bottles that say Reverse Osmosis, that is what is important. So you do not want to use Distilled! Look for bottles labeled Purified Water or Purified Drinking Water, if you want to add more trace elements get the brand name stuff that says it has added minerals. Below is a link on RO

Reverse Osmosis: Frequently Asked Questions –

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

I think the rest of you are spouting off stuff when you are not informed. Every LFS and website has always said not to use Distilled Water as it lacks any trace elements and is too pure. cvcdrk is the only one here who seems to be giving correct information. As he said you want the bottles that say Reverse Osmosis, that is what is important. So you do not want to use Distilled! Look for bottles labeled Purified Water or Purified Drinking Water, if you want to add more trace elements get the brand name stuff that says it has added minerals. Below is a link on RO

Reverse Osmosis: Frequently Asked Questions –

Can someone get me a tbs average on bottled drinking water? The standards are low for human consumption. I know someone has done some research. Second, there is no reasin to argue a point. Just state your opinion and leave it be. Oh yea, welcome aboard.

 

[bjohanson1234]

There is essentially no difference between distilled and RO. Pure water is pure water. RO with 0ppm has no trace elements in it either. All the trace elements are added back in WITH the salt mix.

You want to start with pure water. How you get there doesn't matter.

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

There is essentially no difference between distilled and RO. Pure water is pure water. RO with 0ppm has no trace elements in it either. All the trace elements are added back in WITH the salt mix.

You want to start with pure water. How you get there doesn't matter.

My city has ro water. My tbs on average is in the120 range. Why is my city ro any different than walmarts super awesome ro?

 

[bjohanson1234]

My city has ro water. My tbs on average is in the120 range. Why is my city ro any different than walmarts super awesome ro?

Because your tap water is running through lots of old corroded pipes. Picking up lots of solids along the way. Also, they are most likely adding things back into the water such as chlorine to prevent bacterial growth.

My tap water is around 120 ppm, my RO unit gives me 0 ppm.

 

[Neno reefs]

I think the rest of you are spouting off stuff when you are not informed. Every LFS and website has always said not to use Distilled Water as it lacks any trace elements and is too pure. cvcdrk is the only one here who seems to be giving correct information. As he said you want the bottles that say Reverse Osmosis, that is what is important. So you do not want to use Distilled! Look for bottles labeled Purified Water or Purified Drinking Water, if you want to add more trace elements get the brand name stuff that says it has added minerals. Below is a link on RO

Reverse Osmosis: Frequently Asked Questions –

I think your the wrong one, you want oure water because your going to add the elements when you mix it wth salt.

 

[ErinCahir]

Because your tap water is running through lots of old corroded pipes. Picking up lots of solids along the way. Also, they are most likely adding things back into the water such as chlorine to prevent bacterial growth.

My tap water is around 120 ppm, my RO unit gives me 0 ppm.

A lot of cities add fluoride, too.

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

A lot of cities add fluoride, too.

Good to know. Mine have been drinking alot of mountain dew lately, and ive not been able to find goby toothpaste :)

 

[Barch]

for us with saltwater reef tanks the RO/DI is the best option for the best quality water. Ultimately the goal is to use water that has a TDS reading of 0. This would indicate that all of the minerals and nutrients have been removed from the water. The problem with buying purified drinking water from a grocery store is that most of those waters may have been processed with carbon filtration and reverse osmosis but then have minerals added back into them to enhance the taste. DI water is going to be the purest water you can get, however I have read several articles that raise concern with elevated amounts of copper that can leach into the finished product during the distilling process. R/O systems alone will not produce 0 TDS water. They are only about 95-98% effective. The amount of reduction will be contingent on the TDS reading of the supply water being fed to the system. For example the TDS reading of the water at my office is 120. The TDS of the R/O water is 3. After the water gets filtered through the DI filters its 0. The R/O is doing most of the work and the DI filters just clean up the rest. The nice thing about an R/O is that it incorporates sediment and carbon filtration which catches most of the VOC's Volatile Organic Compounds. I found the following to be helpful in understanding how all this works. I'm not endorsing their product but the video is informative. Sorry for being long winded but this is what I do for a living....

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihuHUiE6r0k]Why use RO/DI in Reef Tanks? EP: 1 Aquarium Reverse Osmosis - YouTube[/ame]